WO 2009/041899 A1 describes a dishwasher rack including undulating wire members.
Conventional dishwashers generally have at least two dish racks, namely one referred to as “lower rack” and one referred to as “upper rack”. When used as intended in a dishwasher, these racks are used to accommodate items to be washed. In order to facilitate loading and unloading of such a dish rack, the dish racks are adapted to be moved by a user into and out of the dishwashing space provided by the dishwasher.
In order to optimize the utilization of the dishwashing space provided by the dishwasher, and also to prevent the items to be washed that are accommodated in a dishwasher rack from being damaged during movement of the rack, various rack inserts serve to accommodate items to be washed in a positionally stable and orderly manner.
Rack inserts typically provide either what may be referred to as “undulated wire members” or what may be referred to as “tines”. Generally, the undulated wire members are arranged in succession one behind the other, the space between two undulated wire members being used, in particular, to accommodate an item to be washed in the form of a plate. Similarly, the tines are arranged in rows, each row generally including two tines. The receiving space formed between two rows of tines is also used, in particular, to receive plate-shaped items to be washed.
In conventional dishwasher rack inserts having undulated wire members, the undulated wire members are formed in the regions of the lateral railings such that they extend upwardly in a vertical direction of the dishwasher. In order to prevent the plates held by the undulated wire members from projecting beyond the lateral boundaries of the dish rack during the intended use thereof, the portions of the undulated wire members that extend in a vertical direction of the dishwasher are spaced apart from the respective lateral rack boundaries. Disadvantageously, this results in a dead space that cannot be used to accommodate items to be washed other than plates.
In contrast to undulated wire members, tines can be used by the user in a much more flexible manner. Thus, for example, the tines may also be used to securely hold hollow vessels, such as pots, bowls, glasses and/or the like, which are placed with their openings over the tines. On the other hand, undulated wire members prove particularly advantageous for holding plates, because they are able to secure plates in position and to protect them from shaking more efficiently than tines.
As can be seen in FIGS. 8 and 9, a prior dishwasher rack insert (a) can be used for accommodating items to be washed, said dishwasher rack insert being supported by a dishwasher rack (b) during its intended use. Dishwasher rack insert (a) includes undulated wire members (c) arranged one behind the other in the loading direction, each undulated wire member (c) being provided with a curved section (d). In the following, a curved section (d) will be understood to be a partial length of an undulated wire member (c) which is substantially U-shaped and thus defines a section which is open at the top and closed at the bottom. A curved section (d) may have one, but also several curves. In the partial views of FIGS. 8 and 9, a curved section (d) is shown on the left side as viewed in the loading direction (f). Two curved sections (d) belonging to undulated wire members located one behind the other in loading direction (f) form a receiving space (e) therebetween, which serves for accommodating items to be washed, in particular plates.
Each undulated wire member (c) merges into a leg (g) at its left end, as viewed in loading direction (f), said leg extending in a vertical direction parallel to the respective side wall (h) of dishwasher rack (b). This configuration is required in order to provide additional lateral support for large plates (not shown) at the plate-receiving space (e) provided by curved sections (d). As may be seen particularly in the view of FIG. 9, it is also known in the art that the vertically upwardly extending leg (g) merges into an extension (k) which may be angled and in turn provides a further receiving space (e) for items to be washed, said further receiving space being in the form of a hinged cup rack (i). The aforedescribed configuration of dishwasher rack (b) and rack insert (a) results in a dead space (l) which extends in loading direction (f) between legs (g) of rack insert (a) and side wall (h) of dishwasher rack (b) on each of the left and right sides as viewed in loading direction (f). This dead space (l) is an area that cannot be used to accommodate non-plate-shaped items to be washed.
Although there are various dishwasher rack inserts that have proven practical in everyday use, there is still a need for improvement, particularly to further optimize space utilization.